Can Mizo National Front make a hat-trick ?
December 6th, 2008 - 12:53 pm ICT by IANSAizawl, Dec 6 (IANS) Counting of votes polled to pick members for the 40-seat Mizoram assembly will be held Monday with the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) confident of storming to power for the third straight term.”We are very sure of getting absolute majority,” Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who is also leader of the MNF, told IANS.
Elections to the legislature were held Tuesday with an estimated 80 percent of the total 611,124 voters exercising their franchise. The MNF is banking on the theme of stability and good governance, besides peace, to make it to power for the third time in a row.
“All these years we provided a stable and clean government and Mizoram is among the few northeastern states where there is absolute peace with no signs of any insurgency,” the chief minister said.
The stocky Zoramthanga was a former separatist guerrilla leader and was the second-in-command of the MNF that surrendered en masse in 1986 after waging a 20-year bush war against the Indian government. The MNF later became a political party after the historic Mizo Accord in 1986.
Despite Zoramthanga’s optimism, the fight for political supremacy this time is expected to be a triangular one with the other two main players being the main opposition Congress and the newly formed United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a conglomeration of various regional parties.
“This election we know for sure that people have voted for change as they are fed up of the 10-year-long misrule of the MNF government,” said Lalthanhawla, former chief minister and Congress leader.
“A Congress government is almost sure this time,” he said.
The UDA led by octogenarian former chief minister Brigadier (retd) T. Sailo is also expected to put up a spirited show.
But political analysts feel Mizoram would get a fractured mandate this time with the MNF bound to face a strong anti-incumbency wave after having ruled the state for the last two terms.
Counting of votes begins 8 a.m. Monday and would decide the fate of 206 candidates, including nine women and 33 independents.
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- Counting of votes begins in Mizoram - Dec 08, 2008
- MNF chief Zoramthanga blames EVMs for defeat of regional parties - May 17, 2012
- Surrounded by insurgency, Mizoram keeps its peace - Aug 18, 2010
- Northeast issues: Forum to draw national attention - Feb 08, 2011
- Polling ends in Mizoram with 70 percent turnout (Second lead) - Dec 02, 2008
- Mizoram records 75 percent turnout in peaceful poll (Round up) - Dec 02, 2008
- Terrorism cannot be solved militarily: Mizoram chief minister - Jun 30, 2011
- Voting for Mizoram assembly elections begins - Dec 02, 2008
- Congress leader held in Mizoram, released on bail - Apr 14, 2012
- Moderate polling in peaceful Mizoram (Lead) - Dec 02, 2008
- Stage set for Mizoram assembly polls Tuesday (Curtain raiser) - Dec 01, 2008
- Anti-incumbency, corruption help Congress to win in Mizoram (News Analysis) - Dec 08, 2008
- At 86, former brigadier still active in Mizo politics (Profile) - Dec 08, 2008
- Lalthanhawla elected Mizoram Congress legislature party leader - Dec 10, 2008
Tags: absolute peace, congress government, congress leader, good governance, guerrilla leader, mnf, opposition congress, political supremacy, regional parties, sailo